Middle East

PoliticsDeadlock in the Second Phase of the State Monopoly on Arms

Bassam Abou Zeid 2025-12-31 19:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hezbollah Lebanese Army Disarmament United States

By the last day of 2025, the Lebanese government was expected to have completed the disarmament of Hezbollah nationwide, following a decision made at a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace on August 5. The official statement tasked the Lebanese Army with drawing up an operational plan to restore the monopoly of weapons exclusively to the ...

Ahead of 2026, Washington's Tougher Terms for Lebanon

Amal Chmouny 2025-12-31 17:10 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Washington Donald Trump Lebanese Army Amal

Heading into 2026, U.S. engagement in Lebanon has become explicitly conditioned on measurable progress toward Hezbollah’s disarmament, marking a clear break from the strategic ambiguity that long defined Washington’s approach. The aftermath of the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict, alongside Lebanon’s deepening economic and political crises, ...

Israel Says Ban on Aid Groups Operating in Gaza to Hit 37 Organisations

This is Beirut 2025-12-31 15:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel European Union Hamas United Nations Gaza NGO

Israel has said that 37 aid organizations will be banned from operating in Gaza starting on Thursday unless they comply with its new guidelines requiring detailed information on Palestinian staff. "They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked ...

Turkey Steps Up Anti-IS Raids, Arresting 125 Suspects

This is Beirut 2025-12-31 14:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey ISIS raid arrest

Turkey on Wednesday detained another 125 Islamic State group suspects in a string of nationwide raids, a minister said, following warnings that IS militants planned attacks over the holidays. Nearly 600 people have now been detained in anti-IS raids over the past week. "We captured 125 Daesh suspects in simultaneous operations carried out in 25 ...

Iran Prosecutor Pledges 'Decisive' Response if Protests Destabilize Country

This is Beirut 2025-12-31 13:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Israel Tehran Iran demonstration

Iran's prosecutor general said on Wednesday that economic protests that had gripped the country were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a "decisive response". "Peaceful livelihood protests are part of social and understandable realities," Mohammad Movahedi-Azad told state media after three days of protests by ...

Syria Arrests 21 Linked to Assad Rule as Curfew Covers Port City

This is Beirut 2025-12-31 10:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus

Authorities in Syria's Latakia province arrested 21 people allegedly linked to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad's rule on Tuesday, state media reported, as a curfew blanketed the provincial capital after sectarian violence the previous night. Monday's attacks in predominantly Alawite neighbourhoods of Latakia city came after three people ...

Turkey Arrests 357 in Crackdown on Islamic State Group

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 16:10 - Reading : less than a minute

Turkey

Turkish security forces on Tuesday arrested 357 people during operations across the country against the Islamic State militant group, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. "During simultaneous operations carried out this morning by our police forces in 21 provinces, we apprehended 357 suspects linked to ISIS. We have never given the ...

$Saudi Arabia Condemns \$

Saudi Arabia Condemns "Dangerous" UAE Moves in Yemen, Bombs Arms Shipment

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 14:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Yemen SaudiArabia UAE GulfCrisis

Saudi Arabia declared a UAE-backed separatist advance in Yemen a threat to the kingdom's national security on Tuesday and called Abu Dhabi's actions "highly dangerous," as the rivalry between the Gulf monarchies boiled over into an open dispute. The strongly worded foreign ministry statement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition fighting in ...

Iran Designates Royal Canadian Navy a Terrorist Organisation

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 13:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Tehran United States

The Iranian foreign ministry designated the Royal Canadian Navy a terrorist organisation on Tuesday in what it said was retaliation for Canada's 2024 blacklisting of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. In a statement, the ministry said that the move was in reaction to Ottawa declaring the Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military, a terror group ...

Syria Imposes Night Curfew on Port City After Sectarian Violence

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 13:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Latakia Alawite

Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the port city of Latakia on Tuesday after attacks in predominantly Alawite neighbourhoods a day prior. The interior ministry announced a "curfew in Latakia city, effective from 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday, December 31, 2025". Individuals ...

Jailed Turkish Kurd Leader Calls on Government to Broker Deal for Syrian Kurds

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 12:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Turkey PKK Abdullah Öcalan Kurdes

Jailed Turkish Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan said Tuesday that it was "crucial" for Turkey's government to broker a peace deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus government. Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF have cast doubt over a deal to integrate the group's fighters into the army, which was due to ...

Trump, Netanyahu Signal Hard Line on Lebanon as Hezbollah Disarmament Takes Center Stage

This is Beirut 2025-12-30 11:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Trump Hezbollah Netanyahu Lebanon USIsrael

U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a tougher stance toward Hezbollah following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Florida, warning that the group is “behaving badly” and stressing that efforts to disarm it remain a central focus of U.S. policy toward Lebanon. Speaking after the meeting at his ...